Let’s take a look at the Senate over the past semester. What has the 104th Senate under President Lucas Gallo done, and are people now interested in the SGA?
Starting with the upcoming Senate session, only 14 people submitted the nomination form for Senate by the deadline on Sunday at 1 p.m. Yes, 14 people submitted nomination forms for 33 open seats. Vacancy elections would then be required for numerous seats in every class year. However, the election committee headed by Secretary Reegan McCaulley, with the support of numerous SGA officials, decided to reopen nominations for another two days. Reopening nominations devalues the efforts of those who got all the signatures on time. If someone rushed and got the signatures at the last minute, they should be rewarded by being nominated. If someone didn’t, they shouldn’t get a free pass. Just run vacancy elections after this round, even opening nominations during the verification period. It’s the right, and easy, solution.
Now, the SGA, according to its bylaws, cannot do this. Article 2.3 does not state that the Secretary can re-open nominations: she can only extend them.
But then, how did they extend nominations? Senators Matthew Cunningham and Lisa Mengotto blindsided the student body by proposing a piece of legislation that they created during the meeting and encouraging the Senate to suspend the bylaws in order to consider the resolution. And guess what? The Senate did it. The Senate blindsided the student body. This sets a dangerous precedent; it allows the Senate to create legislation, hide it, and pass it without the student body being aware of it. What if the stipend bill was passed this way? None of the fifty people would have shown up telling the Senate that it was a blatant abuse of power, and it would have quietly happened. A bad precedent for a bad ideal.
And now with the nomination period extended and more nominations accepted, the incoming sophomore senate election, which previously wasn’t a contest, is now a contest. How is that fair to the people who submitted before the original deadline and weren’t late?
Onto the bigger picture, why did numerous senators decide not to rerun for Senate, and why didn’t new people decide to run for Senate? Most of the current senators are dissatisfied with their time in the Senate, as per a survey to senators sent out by President Lucas Gallo. I attribute this dissatisfaction and the general lack of interest in becoming a senator to two aspects of the progress made by the Senate this semester.
First, Gallo has not communicated solutions to the many issues he has seen and brought up. Anyone can notice an issue, and the president shouldn’t just notice an issue, but take action. The only thing we’ve publicly seen from his administration in response to any issues is the call for a mental health educator in response to the recent suicides, and a single light behind the field. For people not involved with the SGA, they haven’t seen any real progress. From their perspective, what else is he fighting for?
Some of his inability to find solutions isn’t his fault. Some members of the upper administration simply do not want to meet with the students. Provost Christophe Pierre wouldn’t meet with him until he had a problem with a student organization that was entirely unrelated to anything Gallo had any control over. Yikes. What is administration doing?
Second, senators have passed a copious amount of legislation this semester, which may be a reason that many of the current senators do not want to rerun. This semester, over 45 bills have been considered. Most of these bills were small bylaw changes proposed by Lisa Mengotto, deeming this semester the “Lisa Mengotto Show.” Sure, they are needed, but the sheer number of bills is a problem. Compile them into a few larger bills — perhaps by each article — as the Constitution and Bylaws Committee is currently doing. Work together, don’t just take things into your own hands to make small changes. It’ll only deter people.
Onto the bigger picture, I have made the decision to run for Senate, and don’t worry, I’m not going to stop writing my column if I’m elected. Transparency. Accountability.
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